195

Benjamin Franklin

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:25,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
Benjamin Franklin

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Auction Date:2014 Nov 12 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Manuscript DS, signed “B. Franklin,” one page, 8 x 9.75, October 11, 1784. In full: “We the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America at the Court of France certify to whom it may concern that the preceding are true copies of three letters signed Hugh Hill which were presented to us by Sir Jona[than] Williams Jun[io]r who solemnly declares he received them from the said Hugh Hill. We certify also that the said Williams produced several other letters from the same person signed in the same manner and the signatures appear perfectly conformable to the above—The word ‘shop’ being interlined in the first page. Done at Passy this eleventh day of October one thousand seven hundred and eighty four.” Boldly and prominently signed at the conclusion by Franklin, adding a handwritten statement signed with his initials, “The Words ‘from the same Person’ being first interlin’d—B.F.” The crisp white paper seal affixed to the lower left remains fully intact. In very good condition, with overall foxing and toning, and various small repaired tears and paper loss to edges.

At this time Franklin was serving as US Minister to France, a position he had held since 1778 when he traveled to the country to rally French support for the American Revolution. This document certifies letters written by Hugh Hill, a Massachusetts ship captain and one of the most successful privateers of the Revolution, whose ambition was to become the scourge of the British coast. He routinely prowled English waters and took numerous prizes, directing many of them to French ports, to earn among British sailors the sobriquet 'that notorious Hugh Hill.' Hill was later personally thanked by President George Washington for his contribution to the cause of American Independence. Beyond the bold, enormous signature and rare handwritten and initialed addendum, the dual connection to the Revolutionary War—Franklin secured the American alliance with France, and Hill proved himself a naval hero against the British—makes this an absolutely outstanding document of tremendous historical interest.